His Love
by emmeeh
Summary: Killian has to make his decision, and his choice will affect everyone in Storybrooke, including Emma and those she cares about most. 3x17 and 3x18 spoilers! Rated T for some language and you know what ;)


"Swan!," Emma paid no attention to his shouts, the pirate had shown more affection towards her than any other person, even more than Neal, and know all he did was shut her out. When Hook had refused to answer why, she stormed out of his room at Granny's.

"Emma, please just trust-"

"Oh just drop it Hook, you were the first person I trusted in a very long time and you know what you did? You let me go; you abandoned me, just like everyone else is this damn world, if I weren't stuck here because of that stupid witch you know where'd I be? In New York, with my son, away from all of this crap I never asked for!" She could see the effect the hateful words had on his face but it didn't matter. The feeling was familiar to her. She was no hero, not even the savior, she was just what Pan said, an orphan. A lost girl who was abandoned by Graham, her parents, Neal, and now Hook.

"You think I wanted to avoid you?!" The pirate spat back at her.

"Then why are you?"

"I can't tell you, not now-"

"Fine," she interrupted a second time, "but you've been labeling the wrong man as a coward." With that last remark, she turned with tears in her eyes and stormed out of the diner.

Hook was a man who had been labeled many things, a pirate, a scoundrel, a dashing rapscallion, but never a coward. That was a name reserved for the crocodile, the man who killed his love. But ever since that bloody beanstalk, he had realized there was more after Milah, there was more to him than just the notorious Captain Hook, Emma brought out Killian Jones.

He sauntered back into his room, Emma's words replaying in head and once the door creaked closed, he implanted his hook into the wood with enough force to tear through a man's heart, the literal way. He had been such a fool to believe Emma wouldn't notice the distance he put between them. It wasn't until he backed off Hook had realized how much they depended on each other. It was after this thought he followed Emma's path out of the diner and down the street in the cold rain that started to drizzle down after their argument.

Every step he took up to Emma and Mary Margaret's apartment, he regretted his decision. The pirate would go up to her, tell her how he truly felt, that he loved her, then he would tell Emma of the witch's plans to kill her or if she refused to kiss him, everyone Emma cared about, including her son.

Hook reached the door and knocked twice. He was about to recite the apology that had been playing in his head on his way to her apartment when he saw that it was Snow who had opened the door.

"Hook? What brings you here this late?" She asked.

"Ah, I apologize, I don't mean to intrude, but has Emma returned?"

"No," David answered, rising from the seat he had taken in their kitchen," She came to grab her things and said she was going to have a lesson with Regina then go to the woods to think."

"She looked pretty upset; do you know if she's alright?"

"That's what I came here to find out, love," Hook responded," but I think I know where Swan might be." He left and made his way to the town line. When he arrived, just as he expected, Emma was seated on the cold pavement. She sat staring into the fog of the real world, a world unaware of wicked witches and magic.

Once Emma realized Killian was behind her, she still stared past the town line but spoke, "Don't get too close, you don't want to turn into one of Zelena's flying monkeys,"

"All this time love, and that's what worries you? Besides, Zelena wouldn't even think about killing me."

"And why is that? Ever since Ariel left you've not been making any sense," Killian walked up beside her and sat close enough to keep her warm, but still keeping his distance. She turned to face him, her green eyes speaking all of the emotions that would never escape her lips. That thought led him to stare at them, lips that, if laid upon his, would bring the downfall of everyone in Storybrooke. If he destroyed her magic, Zelena would no doubt prevail, for the town relied on their sheriff, their savior. Killian looked away, not able to face the danger he posed if he told Emma of the curse the witch placed upon him.

"Well, to start, that wasn't truly Ariel." As expected, a look of confusion grew on Emma's face.

"Back in the Enchanted Forest, during the missing year, my ship was stolen by Blackbeard and he had kidnapped her prince, Eric. She enlisted my help to save him but that scoundrel had marooned him on Deadman's Island. He made me a deal, the Jolly Rodger, for Eric's location."He paused and looked at his hand and hook, not yet accepting what he had done.

"You chose the ship didn't you?"

"Aye, I thought I could go back to my life before Cora, before Storybrooke, before Milah died, but that was impossible. The same goes for you trying to return to New York with Henry, you can't go back to a life that isn't yours."

"So what happened to Ariel?"

"She dived into the water and apparently found him, that's what you saw in the mirror back in your apartment."

"Then why was she-"

"The Ariel that showed up here was a fraud," he paused," It was the witch."

"Zelena?"

"She arrived to guilt me over my decision," Killian looked straight in her eyes, reflecting the same unspoken emotions she had before, "and to say the name of my true love, you"

After that last statement Emma was on the brink of pure shock. Sure, she had known of his affection for her ever since the day they had met, but had never heard the words come straight from him.

"When I said your name, she cursed me so that the next time I were to kiss you, all of your magic would be taken from you, so she could kill you and move on with her plans to kill Princess Eva in the past. She said if I refused, she would kill all of the people you love, starting with your boy."

"Henry? Is he safe?" Since Emma was trying to shroud her thoughts about Killian, she focused her worry towards her son.

"Henry is asleep at your apartment, and the protection spell is still up, so worry not, but there are others she will go after."

Emma thought of everyone she held close being tortured, her parents and her unborn brother or sister, and Killian. She was the savior, but wasn't sure if she could even protect them. She loved each of them almost more than her son-. Then the largest smile grew on her face.

"Kiss me," she said, inching her face closer and closer to the pirate.

"Have you gone mad love? She'll kill you without your magic."

"Just trust me, everything will be okay," she pleaded.

"No"

"Perhaps you just can't handle it," and with that recollection of their shared moment he remembered how hard he had tried to earn her trust, and now it was her turn to earn his.

Their lips crashed together and in that moment Killian forgot all about the witch's curse and the only thing that mattered was Emma, his savior. The kiss, like their eyes, spoke every emotion they didn't have the strength to admit. They could've stayed like that for hours on end, in perfect rhythm, their lips crafted for each other's. His hand fell from her face and traveled down her back while her's ruffled his dark hair and gripped his coat.

A blinding green light growing from his lips broke them apart and covered Emma's body. She fell back onto the pavement, unconscious as she trembled.

"EMMA!" Killian yelled, trembling himself, he cupped her face as tears fell from his eyes. He bent over her limp body.

Just as he was going to call Regina or David on Emma's strange cell phone, to tell them of the sacrifice she made to save them, Killian looked at her face, now pale, and was once again blinded, by a growing light, however this one was white, engulfing her slowly, almost beautifully. Once it seeped into her skin, her eyes shot open and she took in a sharp breath, slowly recalling what had happened before he passed out. The look of confusion on Killian's face would have made her laugh in a different situation.

"What, Emma what is going on?"

"And you're Henry's favorite? Did you even read his book?"

"I don't-"

She rose up off the ground and kissed him once again, not as passionate as Neverland or their previous dalliance, but a kiss both of them needed, to make sure the other was going to be okay.

"True love's kiss will break any curse."

"But I kissed you in New York, and it didn't bring your memories back," Emma couldn't believe how oblivious he was being, once they got back home, she was defiantly making him read the book.

"Doesn't work because I didn't remember I loved you, Killian."

"So you?"

"Of course, did you miss the whole blinding light and the I love you?"

"David's going to kill me isn't he?"

"You bet," and with that he held her for the longest time, still making sure she was alive and that she was his to love.


End file.
